Gansu · Striped Hills, and What the Light Does to Them
Zhangye Danxia (张掖丹霞)
Sixty million years of lake and river beds, tilted on edge by the rise of the plateau and then eroded into ridges. The colours are real, and how strongly you see them depends almost entirely on when you go.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | A field of banded, striped hills cut from tilted sedimentary layers, viewed from boardwalks and platforms |
|---|---|
| Where | Linze County, about 40 km west of Zhangye city, in the Hexi Corridor |
| The rock | Cretaceous sandstones, siltstones and mudstones laid down flat in lakes and rivers, then tilted and eroded |
| The colours | Iron compounds, mostly. Red and orange where the iron oxidised, grey-green where it did not, white where salts dominate |
| Not that Danxia | The China Danxia world heritage listing of 2010 covers six other sites and not this one. Zhangye was listed as a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2020 |
| Getting round | Four viewing platforms linked by shuttle bus, with boardwalks at each. Walking on the hills is not allowed |
| Best light | The hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset, and the day after rain |
| Time needed | Two to three hours, and that is the full circuit of all four platforms |
Why Go
Why It Is Striped, and Why Your Photographs Might Not Be
1. Flat beds stood on end
These layers were laid down horizontally over tens of millions of years in shallow lakes and river systems, each band a different sediment under different conditions. Iron in a layer that formed in oxygen-rich water became red and orange; iron in a layer that formed in stagnant, oxygen-poor water stayed grey-green; layers heavy in salts came out white and pale yellow.
Then the collision that raised the Tibetan plateau tilted the whole stack. Once the beds were standing at an angle, erosion cut across them rather than down through them, which is why the hillsides read as diagonal stripes rather than as horizontal bands. The pattern on the surface is a cross-section of deep time turned on its side.
2. The colour is a function of light
This is the part worth knowing before you buy a ticket. The famous images are taken at low sun, usually in the last hour of the day, often after rain, and usually with the saturation pushed. Under flat midday light in dry weather the same hills are dusty pink, pale green and grey, and plenty of visitors come away feeling they were sold something else.
The two photographs on this page are the same landscape. Nothing was done to either of them beyond resizing. Go late in the afternoon, go after rain if you can, and treat the middle of the day as the time to be somewhere else.
The catch. It is a looking site and nothing else. You move between four platforms by shuttle bus, walk a boardwalk at each, and look; there is no hiking, no scrambling, and leaving the boardwalk is prohibited and enforced, because footprints on soft mudstone last for years. Two hours covers it. Anyone hoping to walk in this landscape rather than at it should go to Binggou instead.
Orientation
Four Platforms, One Bus
Inside the gate a shuttle runs a loop between four viewing areas and you get on and off as you like. Most people linger at the platform that opens out on the striped ridges, and the last one on the loop is usually the best for sunset because of how it faces.
The circuit takes about two hours at an unhurried pace. If you are here for the light rather than for the ticking off, go in at about two hours before sunset, do the loop quickly, and spend the last hour standing still at whichever platform is facing right.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Late afternoon, not midday
The difference between the two photographs on this page is time of day. If your schedule only allows midday, know that going in.
Go the day after rain if you get the chance
Wet mudstone is darker and more saturated, and the difference is genuine rather than a trick of processing.
Stay on the boardwalk
It is enforced with fines. The soft surface holds a footprint for years, which is the actual reason rather than crowd control.
It is a desert climate
Hot and glaring by day, cold after dark, and windy most of the time. There is very little shade at any of the platforms.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| June to September | Warmest, with late evening light and the best chance of the rain that deepens the colour | The peak season, and midday heat on unshaded platforms is serious |
| May and October | Clear, cool and quiet, with low sun for much of the afternoon | Cold once the sun goes, and the shoulder season shuttles can be less frequent |
| April | Very few visitors and sharp light | Dust and sandstorms are common in spring across the corridor |
| November to March | Empty, and the low winter sun is at a good angle for most of the day | Cold, and some facilities run reduced hours |
Context
The Corridor This Sits In
Zhangye is a Hexi Corridor city, one of the string of oasis towns strung between the Qilian mountains and the desert that carried traffic between China and Central Asia for two thousand years. It was called Ganzhou, and the province’s name, Gansu, is a compound of Ganzhou and Suzhou further west.
That geography is visible from the platforms. The snow line of the Qilian range sits on the southern horizon, the ground between is irrigated farmland fed by meltwater from it, and the hills themselves are what happens where neither the water nor the farming reaches. The whole corridor works on that one relationship.
The site as a visitor attraction is recent. It was a local curiosity until photographs circulated online in the late 2000s, after which the platforms, boardwalks, shuttle system and ticket office were built at speed. The infrastructure is a response to the pictures, which is worth knowing when you notice how strongly the place is managed.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Landform · 12 km
Binggou Danxia (冰沟丹霞)
Cliffs, towers and gullies rather than stripes, and the landform that the word Danxia properly describes. Fewer people, and you can walk in it.
Temple · in Zhangye
Giant Buddha Temple (张掖大佛寺)
A Song dynasty hall holding a reclining Buddha over thirty metres long, inside the city.
Spot · 190 km west
Jiayu Pass (嘉峪关)
The western end of the Ming Great Wall, where the fortified line stops and the desert takes over.
Where to Base
Zhangye (张掖)
Zhangye is on the fast line between Lanzhou and Jiayuguan, which makes it an easy stop on the standard Hexi Corridor route rather than a special journey. The geopark is about an hour from the city by road.
One night is enough for the hills plus the Giant Buddha Temple. Two if you want Binggou and the Mati Temple grottoes in the mountains south of the city.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · 2 hr
The four platforms
The shuttle loop with time at each viewing area, ideally timed so the last one lands at sunset.
On site · 2 hr
Binggou instead, or as well
The cliff-and-tower landform ten minutes away, where the paths go through the rock rather than above it.
Guided · 3 days
The corridor by train
Zhangye, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang on the fast line, which is the Silk Road route as a practical itinerary.
Worth two hours, and worth being deliberate about the hour you pick. Go in the late afternoon, look at both photographs on this page before you set expectations, and stay on the boardwalk. If what you actually want is to walk in a red rock landscape rather than look at one from a railing, go to Binggou.
Plan the Hexi Corridor by Train
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: Zhangye timed for the afternoon light, Jiayuguan for the end of the Wall, and Dunhuang for the caves and the dunes, all on the fast line.